Valdai Paper Special Issue. World Order: Quo Vadis? In Search of a Global Westphalia

Where the world is heading? This was the question of the first session of the 13th Annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club titled "The Future in Progress: Shaping the World of Tomorrow".

Donald Trump's victory hit the very foundations of the US-dominated foreign policy consensus since the 1940s, and put into question the most important foundations of the world order à la America: global system of American alliances, the US position as the leader of the "liberal" world order, the overwhelming power of the American political system. But will the world under President Trump be more harmonious and safe than before? Probably not. Donald Trump is the most acute symptom of a chronic disease rather than the cure.

The author agrees with the conclusion of the Session 1 titled “World Order: Quo Vadis?”, that the world is in a pre-war state. To date, there are no significant players, which would be satisfied with the prevailing status quo. According to the author of the Valdai Paper, the world is on the threshold of a new global Thirty Years' War, when the main players did not agree on most fundamental rules and principles of the world order and denied each other's political legitimacy. There is a fragmentation of the world into several different regional orders.

The solution proposed by the author coincided with that proposed by President Vladimir Putin at the 13th Annual meeting of the Valdai Discussion Club: reaffirmation of the UN Charter and relative principles. That would be necessary to prevent a new Thirty Years' War with help of "Global Westphalia"

About the author:

Dmitry Suslov is Programme Director of the Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club, Deputy Director of the Centre for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the National Research University – Higher School of Economics